100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 Series
99% Invisible

100 Objects #19: Western Electric 500 Series

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 25, 202638 min

This episode is sponsored by Claude. For problems worth solving, get started with Claude at Claude.ai. The Western Electric 500 Series Telephone used to be everywhere. For over 50 years, it was the default telephone for homes, offices and literally anywhere else you might need a phone… but how did that happen? Why was this one phone so much better than everything that came before… or, in some ways, since? Former MythBuster Adam Savage joins Roman Mars to explore the history of the 500 Series Telephone and what we lost when we eventually decided to leave it behind. A...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 11 of 12 · 1:32

Picture, you know, the classic picture of a telephone in the encyclopedia, this black

, , .

This phone was the Western Electric 500 series, and it was kind of just an ordinary telephone.

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B21:32
  • B25:41
  • C111:27
  • B216:01
  • C123:22
  • B224:34
  • B229:50
  • B237:25

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 25%A2 40%B1 22%B2 11%C1 2%
  • 87% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 161 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 183 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:41

It's the 1970s and we're in the peaceful bliss of suburbia, in a family home, pretty indistinguishable from any other family home. But for one curious child, it was in these four walls that there lived a precious, almost mythical object. It was in the front foyer of our house. There was a table devoted to it.

1:03

This is Adam Savage. I am a former MythBuster, current YouTuber, science communicator, and maker of things. And breaker of things. And breaker of things. You have to break enough things to learn how they go back together.

1:18

But one of the few things Adam was never quite able to break was what sat on that table in the front foyer of his home. Picture, you know, the classic picture of a telephone in the encyclopedia, this black phone with a metal dial, letters in each hole of the dial, and a handset sitting on top. This phone was the Western Electric 500 series, and it was kind of just an ordinary telephone.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (37 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy